Anand Mahindra keeps his promise, disposes plastic waste at work via a recycling company

Last week, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra promised to banish plastic bottles from the company’s boardrooms after a Twitter user suggested they use steel bottles instead.

The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Vriksha Homeware also tweeted their own suggestions but the billionaire decided to go the glass route. The company has stopped the use of branded plastic water bottles in all its boardrooms and replaced them with glass jars, glass bottles and glasses, according to a company spokesperson.




But what happens to all that discarded plastic?
“There are two aspects – unused water bottles and used water bottles. Unused branded water bottles, we are trying to return to the vendor while the used ones are gathered together and disposed responsibly through the BMC’ s dry waste collection,” said Lt Col (Retd) Abhaya Mahajan Head Corporate Infrastructure Services & Group Security, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

Responsibly discarding plastic waste is not a new venture for the company. Last year, Mahindra organized a plastic collection drive and the proceeds were disposed of through a recycling company. “As part of our efforts in rejuvenating the environment we strive to ensure that no waste goes to landfill,” said Mahajan.

A Sustainable Profit
While Mahindra has been a champion of reducing waste, he’s firm on the fact that the sustainability movement will only sustain if people build new ecosystems and find a way to profit from it.


“If everyone's just ticking a box, I don't think it will survive because there will be something else that will take the place of sustainability. Even philanthropic causes tend to follow fashion sometimes. But when you have opportunity and business in it, that's when you realize something is really here to stay,” said Mahindra during a 2015 fireside chat.

Sharing an example of compost bin liners, he explained, “If everybody was just going to depend on police people going out and fining people for using plastic bags, I guarantee you that moment would not last. But the moment people find niches to make money off the alternates to plastic bags, you're going to get sustainability, which is sustainable.”